# 2 in the Phoenix-mirage series . They have managed to defeat ODA and the Takeda clan. Shintaro has been found, will he accept his past and Haruie? What happens now and who is the strange man that shows up one day at the Uesugi estate. yaoi NAOEXKAG

Kagetora woke up sluggishly and went to take a long bath to calm his nerves and relax his body. When he was all done he got dressed and hurried down the stairs where the Irobe, Saburo and the others were already having breakfast .

"Good morning." He said as he sat down and began serving himself as usual.

They all returned the greeting and gave him worried looks but he ignored them and turned to his butler who had just arrived.

"Thank you." he said as he took the papers from him. "Great, I made the front page of all of them." he said sarcastically.

Ever since he had entered the business world he had taken up the habit of reading all the papers and tabloids everyday to see where he stood in them. On all of them were pictures of him being held at gunpoint, at him at the press conference among other things.

"There are also a sea of reporters outside the estate , at the children's schools , the place where the fashion show will be held, the mall site and the office." said the butler. " How should we proceed?"

Kagetora sighed tiredly. " Get me Aido will you?" he said tiredly.

"Yes my lord." the butler said bowing before leaving the room as Kagetora picked up his cellphone and speed dialed his publicist. "Have you seen the papers?"

"Hai Kagetora-sama I have." said the woman on the other end. " And I did as ordered. The result arent that bad now is it?"

"No they aren't." Kagetora agreed. " Good work on this, I'll give you a bonus. There are all those reporters at all of our buildings including my home but I guess it cant be helped. Keep up the good work and meet me at my office in an hour to discuss a few things." he said before hanging up.

By then Aido had arrived and he looked rather stressed. " You wanted to see me Kagetora-sama?" he asked.

"Yes." Kagetora replied. "tighten our security please. Do the same around all of our buildings. Also make sure that the teachers at their schools no better than to allow any reporters near my children or to talk about them to anyone. The last thing I wanna do is have deal with them." then he waived a hand and two large stacks of papers appeared. "These are gun permits for every type of conceivable weapon. You will find that a new room has appeared in the middle of this compound, its an armory. You'll find all you need there and will already know the access code. Make sure that the weapons and permits are distributed to all of your men. And yes I do mean all of them. Also , it will automatically restock itself so there is no need to worry about that. As for how to use them properly , well the knowledge has been implanted in all your heads already. There are two sides to the armory as you will see, one with the marked weapons and one with the unmarked ones. I'm sure you understand how to use them. I don't want anyone who is not authorized to be here on this compound under any circumstances am I clear?"

Aido nodded. " Hai Kagetora-sama. Will that be all?" he asked.

"No but we'll discuss that in private with Seiren when he gets here later." Kagetora said. " Thank you."

Aido bowed and left as everyone simply continued to stare at Kagetora. Even Chiaki was a bit stunned by what he had just heard and was feeling a bit worried. Urahara wasn't kidding when he said that this Kagetora was not to be messed with.

"Niichan you cant be seriously thinking of using them are you?" said a shocked Mia.

Kagetora actually glared at her which surprised her. " Mia , I have always protected you from everything but you need to wake up and realize the type of world we are living in. did you not see what happened yesterday? While I hate guns and all that they are necessary as there are times when our exorcising power simply wont cut it. While I could have easily stopped her with my abilities that wasn't the best idea at the time. This way at least I know that we'll be more prepared for whatever happens in the future. I'm done playing nice Mia, if they want a war then they'll get one. I wasn't a general for nothing. I'm simply learning from my mistakes , that's all. Better to be safe than to be sorry." he said coldly.

She gulped and nodded a bit hurt by the reprimand . But when she thought about it she realized that he was right and that she really did see the world through rose colored glasses in spite of all that they had been through. Why ? Because her brother had always shielded her from everything. Now he needed help and was doing the best he could and here she was questioning him .

Kagetora nodded . " Neither do I , it was why I never allowed it before but we have to be realistic on this one. Keep the link we all share open whenever we are out in public as I don't want to lose any of you. As for what we'll do with all this bad publicity , we'll weather it as best we can for now. Its all we can do." he said simply.

Then he ate the rest of his meal in silence. When he was done Seiren who had arrived entered and they left for his office with Kyuushi and Aido. The others left for their various engagements after saying goodbye.

Upon reaching his office he served tea and they began to talk.

"I have the information that you requested Kagetora-sama." said Seiren. " What would you like me to do now?"

Kagetora took a deep breath. " I want you to send someone to exorcize a soul from an already dying body for me. Her brother's. but you must let Naoe see whoever you send and you must also do it over a certain period of time as it will simply be a smokescreen for my real plans." he said coldly shocking the room.

Seiren nodded and handed him the file. " Hai Kagetora-sama." he replied.

"Thank you. Be careful, these are yakuza we are dealing with and it will need to be handled skillfully." Kagetora told them. "I also want you to meet our underground network and find out about all the various artifacts that are circulating in the underworld so that I can legally purchase them for my gallery. If they are possessed then that makes it all the better. This way we can watch over them more easier and fulfill our duties." then he took a moment to look through the file. " So they are enemies with the other local yakuza boss eh? Interesting ."

"What do you plan to do to them Kagetora-sama?" asked Seiren . " You cannot allow all this to go unpunished."

Kagetora gave an evil chuckle. " I don't plan to Seiren. In fact I plan to do the complete opposite. They will pay . But moving on to more important things. Have the transition for all of our other companies to fall under the Uesugi banner been going well?"

"Hai Kagetora-sama, everything is going fine." Seiren confirmed. " There are a few people who didn't like the fact that they had a new employer that they weren't aware of but its been taken care of ."

"Good. I'm pleased with your progress." Kagetora said nodding. "we have a fashion show, a new mall and a few other things to get through right now. Lets all do this as efficiently as possible. If there are any problems then contact me as soon as possible. And Seiren , when you exorcise him do me a favor. Make sure to place my tiger on him in a way that only another possessor can actually see, namely Naoe. Also make sure that the only one who could ever place the soul back into the body is me. Lets send him a little message."

They all nodded as they began feeling sorry for Naoe and then they left. Kagetora went to his office and got on with his day in a rather peaceful manner in spite of all the chaos going on around him . He also bought a new car, a red Ferrari of that year . Deep inside him however, his heart was broken and all he really wanted to do was to curl up and die but he didn't. His pride wouldn't let him.

Naoe woke up that morning feeling worn out and saddened by what had happened before. He simply wanted to go back to bed and after thinking it over , that's just what he did. There were a lot of reporters outside his door and he simply couldn't deal with the reality that was his life and so he went to sleep. It was around midday when he heard someone knocking on his door insistently and he reluctantly got up and pulled on a robe to go see who it was. When he got to the door he scowled when he noticed Kanaya standing there with a packed suitcase.

He opened the door with an obvious look of annoyance on his face. "What do you want Kanaya?" he asked .

She beamed up at him. " Yoshiaki-kun , you're not still angry at me about what happened are you?" she asked as if all she had done was forget to take out the trash. " I'm sure you're not so I decided that since we'll be getting married soon and all that , that it would be okay for us to move in together. So here I am."

"We're not getting married. I've told you that before, now leave!" Naoe said angrily before slamming the door in her face.

Kanaya began knocking on his door furiously and ignored all the reporters taking pictures of the unfolding drama. "Yoshiaki-kun? Yoshiaki-kun?" she called in a sickening voice. " Let me in . come on Yoshiaki-kun this is not funny. You're going to marry me since I'm carrying your baby if it's the last thing I do."

Naoe ignored her and went to take a shower. Unfortunately for him she was rather insistent and when he came out of the bathroom she was still outside his door yelling and knocking like a madwoman. He growled and after getting dressed he picked up his keys and walked out the door as it was more than obvious that she would not be giving him any peace there. Then he heard her suddenly stop as her phone rang and as he walked out the door he overheard the conversation and realized what had happened. Her brother was getting worse and she needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. By now she was sobbing and he took pity on her as she had been out there for quite some time.

"Come on I'll take you to the hospital." he offered grudgingly and she nodded before shoving her suitcase into his house against his protests and hurrying to one of his cars.

They got in and hurried to the hospital. When they got there they made their way to his room where Kanaya's father was waiting for them.

"How is he?" Kanaya asked frantically.

"He's stabilized now." said her father . " You can go see him if you want to."

She nodded and went in but Naoe didn't follow her as her father had gestured for him to remain so that they could talk. Her father looked over the obviously unhappy man who anyone could tell didn't love his daughter nor did he want to be here and sighed. He had made a few mistakes it seemed with the way he had raised his daughter as she was not only manipulative but an opportunist.

"Come have a seat." he said gesturing off to the side as he went to sit down.

Naoe joined him and waited for what would no doubt be an uncomfortable conversation. "I don't really know how it all happened all I know is that my daughter obviously planned for this to happen. Now while I know that she is wrong, it still doesn't change the fact that she is carrying your child . What to you intend to do about that?" he asked.

Naoe scowled. " I was drunk and she took advantage of that. I already have a husband that I love and I don't want to marry that daughter of yours. She would not make anyone a good wife and we both know it. As for my child I'm willing to support it or even to take it off your hands if she doesn't want it but I wont be marrying her." he said firmly.

Her father scowled . " that is unacceptable. You will be marrying her or I will make things hard for that man you claim to love. She may have brought this on herself but it takes two to make a baby and you should never have touched her if you didn't want this to happen. I don't think that your young man would like another scandal after what happened do you?" he asked.

Naoe glared at him but knew that his hands were tied and he really didn't want to cause Kagetora anymore trouble. "Very well, I'll contact my family." he agreed.

The man smirked as he felt pleased that he had once again given his daughter what would make her happy. Before he could say anything more however a scream came from his son's room and all of them hurried to go see what was wrong. Upon taking a look Naoe immediately knew why the man was practically sitting up in the bed so stiffly even while unconscious. He knew an exorcism when he saw one and began muttering a counter.

"Get back , someone is trying to rip his soul out of his body and kill him." he yelled at everyone around before begin another chant.

Then a ball of energy much like the one he could shoot flew out at him and knocked him into the wall cracking it. He groaned as he ignored Kanaya's scream and just as he looked up he saw the dying man's soul departing and two possessors smirk at him from a nearby building outside the window before running off. He quickly placed it back into his body and made sure that he was stable. He also saw the Uesugi tiger appear on the unconscious man's body and paled. He knew without being told what it meant, Kagetora had declared war on him. He didn't need to be told, he was so fucked. He got to his feet with a groan and looked around. Kanaya was crying and currently in her father's arms.

He turned to her father . "There is something I need to check on. I'll see you in the morning to discuss things." he said to him.

The man nodded and Naoe left , hurrying to his car. He sped off to his father's temple as he needed to talk to him. He already knew that he couldn't go anywhere near Kagetora right now. He made it to his father's place and hurried inside to find his father having tea with his brothers and mother.

"Dad I need your help." he said as he sat down after greeting them. "Its about Kagetora."

His father frowned. " What is it now son?" he asked.

Naoe sighed. " I just left the hospital where Kanaya's brother was. We were told that he was getting worse and since she was at my house harassing me at the time I took her there. I was talking to her father when she screamed and we went in to see what was going on. We found him there having his soul ripped out of him. I tried to stop him but I was blasted by an energy ball , the same type that we possessors use. Then when I looked out the window the two assassins waited and actually made sure that I saw them before leaving. Then they used a possessor technique to put the Uesugi tiger on it so that only I would be able to see it. I managed to put his soul back inside him. Dad….Kagetora ordered the hit and has all but declared war on me." he told him worriedly.

"You cant be serious." said Yuki. " He would never do such a thing."

Naoe looked up at him and shook his head. " No mom, he did. This isnt the first time he's given an order for someone to be killed and I know him well enough. What am I going to do dad?" he asked frightened.

"First we need to speak with Kagetora about this to find out if he did this or not." Shinohara began trying to be the voice of reason. " we'll try to reason with him when after we find out where we stand."

They all nodded. " Since you cant go there then I'll call him now." said Kaname .

"No need." said a voice behind them. " I'm already here. You wanted to see me?"

They turned to see Kagetora leaning against the door with a smirk on his face.

"Kagetora please come in and have a seat." said Kaname reasonably. " We need to talk."

Kagetora smirked as he removed the henge he wore and waddled over to the seat that was offered. "Such concern. It's a shame your son never took after either of you. But then again you cant exactly turn a whore into a husband now can you?" he said coldly.

Yuki paled and while she wanted to insist he apologize they all knew that Naoe had indeed acted without honor.

Taking a deep breath Kaname began to speak. " Kagetora did you order the death of Kanaya's brother?" he asked.

Kagetora chuckled at that before finally pulling himself together. "Yes I did and I don't regret it for a second. My only regret is that I didn't consider killing him sooner as we probably wouldn't be at this point now." then he shook his head. " Nope that would be wrong as Naoe could never keep his pants on in any lifetime. Why do you think I kept him on a leash before? Naoe has done much worse so think on that before you judge me." he said coldly.

"But Kagetora he was innocent." Naoe began.

"Innocent ?" Kagetora hissed. " The son of a yakuza innocent? He has more blood on his hands than even you. But enough about him lets talk about you Naoe. Did you really think that there would be no retribution for what you and that bitch did? Your little bitch held me up at gunpoint and humiliated me and I promise, this is only a taste of things to come for you both. My name is splashed all over the tabloids and had it not been for my brilliant idea to put one hell of a spin on it by not having your slut arrested I would have lost millions. I lost a kingdom and my life once because of you and neither you or anyone else will get in my way to regain some of what I lost. I gave you everything and you did this and expected to get away with it? While I was stuck making life better for us and carrying our babies you were running around with that tramp. I warned you , hell I begged you to stay away from her but you didn't listen. Everyone could see this coming Naoe, everyone but you." just then Naoe's cellphone rang and he picked it up.

He paled when he heard Kanaya on the other end and listened before hanging up. " Her other brother just got hit by a lightening bolt and is in the hospital on life support." he told them before looking at Kagetora who was smiling. "Kagetora please don't do this."

Kagetora leaned back in his chair. " I'm sorry Naoe , its not my job to cater to your needs anymore. Go back to her and let her do it for you again. You're really no longer my problem. Oh before I forget I believe congratulations are in order on your engagement to the little tramp. Congratulations Naoe, may you treat her as well as you treated me. That goes for your bastard too. You really do work fast I'll give you that."

"You're being unreasonable Kagetora and you know it." Naoe said angrily.

"And you're being a whore." Kagetora countered. " We cant all have what we want now can we Naoe? I would like to be able to see my feet and not be carrying a gut full of your brats but who cares right? Certainly not you. Oh and Saburo isnt doing well by the way. He's dealing with the fact that daddy left mommy for a whore who tried to kill mommy and is now having daddy's bastard in spite of the fact that mommy is already pregnant. He's having nightmares but that's to be expected after what happened. He wont even sleep alone anymore and uses our link to check on me every few minutes. I wonder what he'll say when he finds out that daddy is getting married to the woman who almost killed mommy? Hmm yeah I'm really looking forward to that conversation." then he shifted and began rubbing his lower back which was actually aching due to all the weight he was now carrying.

Naoe looked at him pleadingly but Kagetora ignored it. He reached out a hand to touch Kagetora but the angry boy slapped it away.

"Don't you ever touch me!" he hissed angrily.

"How many times must I apologize Kagetora?" Naoe said pleadingly. " How can I make you forgive me? I don't know what else to do to make you love me again. I'm so sorry."

Kagetora got up and shook his head. " Save it , I don't have time for this. I have a family to take care, children to raise, a scandal to deal with, my divine duties, companies to run and to move on with my life . You have the answer to your questions so deal with it. Go call the cops if you wish to the end will still be the same. In all honesty I've decided that you wont be seeing our sons at all." he said as he pulled out a few papers and handed them to Naoe. " You'll get another from a bailiff just to make sure you cant deny it. You and your whore will not be allowed anywhere near my children and the judge agreed with me that you and that woman is a danger to us. That goes for the children I'm carrying as well. Restraining orders are such wonderful things arent they? Its quite simple, I also took out papers to make sure that if you marry her you lose complete custody to any of our offspring as you're both a danger to them and me. I should thank you for hitting me in public Naoe as it cant be denied that you did hit me repeatedly while I only hit you once. Saburo also no longer wishes to see you so its not a problem for me. In fact the restraining order against you and complete custody to me was his idea. He wants nothing to do with you now after what happened. I should thank your whore for that. You made a serious mistake on this one Naoe hurting our son. Had you only hurt me I would have probably let you get away with most of it but that's not the case at all. My lawyer will contact you as far as our finances go." then he looked at Yuki and the others. " You're all free to visit as I hold no grudge against the rest of you, just your scumbag of a son. Now I have a few meetings to get through and all that. Goodbye."

"Wait!" Naoe called out and Kagetora stopped and turned to him questioningly. "Why did you put out a hit on me? You've never done it before."

Kagetora chuckled at that . " A hit on you? Who said anything about you Naoe? I made you immortal remember? No this is not about you at the moment, well not completely. Do you know what you taught me in our first life Naoe? You taught me that no one is better at hitting close to home than your own lover. You see, they know you so they'll know what will hurt and what wont. Your family the Tachibanas are safe from my wrath but the rest isnt. I warned her and I warned you. You will have to watch as she, her family and your bastard suffer and not be able to do anything about it. I wont be touching you at all, not physically anyway. Wounds of the heart hurt more than any other type, you taught me that my love. You knew that no one can hold a grudge like me and you still pissed me off. Deal with it."

Kaname looked at him worriedly. Even if he understood why Kagetora was mad he still didn't wish for the unborn child to be harmed. "What will you be doing about his unborn child that she's carrying?" he asked knowing that Kagetora could do anything he wanted and they could do nothing.

Kagetora's eyes glowed yellow as he laughed and they shivered. " I'll treat it as what it is. The bastard of my old lover. The little abomination should never even have been created in the first place. But don't worry I wont be killing it, instead I'll be making sure that it hates being alive . Unless I will it that little plague will never be happy . Perhaps I'll take pity on the little mutt one day but somehow I doubt it. In fact the only way I will ever do that is if Naoe decides to think of someone else for a change and pay the ultimate price." he said evilly.

Naoe paled and looked at him. " And what's that Kagetora? What's the price you'll ask for?" he asked tiredly.

"You'll figure it out for yourself mutt." Kagetora said coldly. " I really have been too lenient with you. I know I taught you better than to ever question a lord now didn't I?" his eyes were still glowing and it frightened Naoe even more.

The fact that he called him a mutt the way the old Kagetora often did didn't go unnoticed by him either. "Please don't… Kagetora-sama please." he pleaded.

Kagetora chuckled. " I see that you're beginning to understand mutt. But no amount of pleading will save you from the whipping I'm about to give you. The only time I can ever recall being anywhere near this angry with you was thirty years ago. We always did enjoy hurting each other didn't we? Remember this Nobutsuna Naoe, I'm going to break you. I'm going to make the only thing you feel pain until I am appeased. The suffering you felt over the last four hundred years will be nothing like this one. Did you really think you could humiliate me and hurt me this way and not suffer for it? Did you think that you could hit me the way you did over and over again without me repaying you for it eventually? you should know better, I taught you that. I'll see you around Naoe." he said and then teleported away.

authors note: unbetaed. please review, no flames.

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